Economists have long advocated comprehensive roadway pricing in the form of user charges as the most efficient way to allocate scarce roadway capacity among competing travel demands.1 Actual transport policy, however, lags far behind theories of optimal pricing. In the U.S., the only form of roadway pricing that currently exists is the tolling of a small fraction of the nation's bridges, tunnels, and limited access highways. Most tolled roadways are in the Northeast, and by far the highest concentration is in the New York City region.

<p>The NJDOT TMA Grant Program gives qualified TMAs up to $400,000 annually to carry out traffic reduction and clean air initiatives. These dollars have funded the implementation of important national and state mandates. They have given the TMAs a stable financial base, diminishing the need for private funds. These subsidies however, have necessarily moved the TMAs away from a private focus. Consequently, the TMAs have less motivation to champion the needs of their private and local constituents.

As the world economy continues to grow, and the law of comparative economic
advantage takes on greater significance at both the national and regional level, the
importance of having efficient and effective freight transportation systems continues to
increase. Local economies are no longer immune, or insensitive to shifts in trading patterns
and alliances on the global level. A region that is strategically placed geographically, and
well-equipped from a freight transportation system standpoint, will profit significantly from

<p>This document contributes to such a regional-level (freight) network planning effort by presenting a methodology whereby alternative network improvement options can be tested, evaluated, refined, and compared in an effort to identify the best long-run and shortterm strategies. The purpose is to provide a tool that metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), state departments of transportation, and other similar agencies can use for such purposes.